There are over 1800 known exoplanets, and both NASA and the European Space Agency plan to launch dedicated planet hunters in 2017 to find more.

But astronomers aren’t content to just collect exoplanets, says Giovanna Tinetti of University College London, they want to know more about them. So she and her colleagues propose Twinkle – so called because it will watch for a dip in light as the planet passes in front of its star – to observe light filtering through known planets’ atmospheres to work out what gases they contain.

The spacecraft is being designed by UK firm Surrey Satellite Technology, and a number of UK universities are already on board, but the team is still looking for funding. They aim to launch in the next three or four years – much faster than most space missions.

This article appeared in print under the headline “UK space telescope”